Several of weeks ago, McShane Glover, a former colleague who works as a booking agent in the mid-Atlantic area, invited me to have lunch with one of her clients, Vicki Genfan. I kinda remember Vicki from my exploits back in the previous millennium. She played guitar for another former client, Dee Carstensen, and I rememeber Vicki as one of those fret-and-string-masters who makes me wonder why I bother to keep guitars around my own abode.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Vicki has graciously agreed to let me offer up a track from her double CD Up Close and Personal. Click the play button below to listen to “Atomic Reshuffle” via this player widget from Soundcloud:
(iGizmo users, sorry… the widget is Flash. <*sigh*>)
As impressed as I am with Vicki’s virtuosity on guitar, I might have been even more impressed with her mode of transportation (OK, I’m exaggerating, there really is very little that is more impressive than Vicki Genfan playing guitar, least of all a mere means of transportation…).
Turns out Vicki is not the only genius/goddess in the family: her traveling partner is Tay Hoyle, a systems designer and engineer of equal vision and virtuosity, an artist in her own right in a different of medium. For example, Tay was responsible for much of the interior design and engineering and actual wiring for the John Lennon Education Bus.
When I pulled into the parking lot of the strip Mall where I met Vicki and Tay for lunch, I pulled in right behind a yellow Dodge van, which turned out to be Tay and Vicki’s rolling home, studio, and stage, all rolled into one remarkably compact vehicle:
Tay and Vicki and the Yellow Minstrel Wagon
This one most impressive vehicle, and dare I say, the modern minstrel’s ultimate means of conveyance. It has all the amenities you’d expect, starting with an efficiently designed galley with all the storage necessary for long road trips:
All the Organic Provisions You Need
But my favorite feature of the Minstrel Wagon (that’s my name for it, I’m not sure what Vicki and Tay call it, and I’m thinking “Minstrel Wagon” might not be their favorite thing to call it, but… well…) is in the back, behind swinging panel doors. This thing has got its own STAGE!
Where Would You Like Us To Set Up?
This is the way of the new troubadour tradition: A fully self contained road machine that gets 21+ miles to a gallon of diesel and carries its own stage, so that the occupants can literally put on a show wherever they park.
I think Tay said she’s gearing up to start producing these things on semi-custom basis for others. This one is the prototype. You might get in touch if you think you might be the first on your block…